1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an electric junction box to be mounted on an automobile as a vehicle for receiving an electric unit.
2. Description of the Related Art
In an automobile as a vehicle, various electronic apparatuses, such as a lamp like a headlamp or a tail lamp and a motor like a starter motor and a motor for air-conditioner, are installed.
For supplying electric power to the various apparatuses, a junction block is disposed at a suitable position in the automobile. The junction block is structured together with various electric circuit elements such as many fuses and relays.
The junction block includes a fuse, a relay and a bus bar, so that the junction block may be called a fuse block, a relay box or generally an electric junction box. In this specification, the fuse block, the relay box and the junction block will be called generally the electric junction box.
The electric junction box includes a case main body forming an outer surface and a terminal. On a top surface of the case main body, a plurality of mount units for mounting the electric elements, such as the relay, the fuse and a fusible link, is disposed. At a bottom surface of the case main body, a connector of a wiring harness wired in the automobile is fitted.
The wiring harness includes a plurality of electric wires and a connector joined with an end of the electric wires. The connector is fitted to the various electronic apparatus installed in the automobile or the aforesaid case main body. The case main body receives a bus bar connecting various electric elements to be mounted on the mount unit and the terminals of the connector of the wiring harness according to a predetermined connecting pattern.
The terminal made of thick conductive sheet metal includes a plate-like electric contact portion and a wire joint portion integrally. At the electric contact portion, a hole or a cutout, through which a thread portion of a bolt passes, is provided. The electric contact portion is mounted on the aforesaid case main body by screwing the bolt, the thread portion of which passes through the hole or the cutout, on the top surface of the case main body.
The wire joint portion is bent at an end of the electric portion, thereby the wire joint portion extends perpendicularly from the electric contact portion. By crimping the electric wire with crimp pieces, a core wire of the electric wire is joined with the electric contact portion.
The electric contact portion joined with the electric wire of the terminal is mounted on the top surface of the case main body of the electric junction box with the bolt. In this condition, the wire joint portion and the electric wire joined with the wire joint portion are arranged along an outer surface of the case main body not to be received in the case main body.
Predetermined electric elements are mounted on each mount units, and the connector of the wiring harness is fitted at the bottom surface of the case main body. Thus, the electric junction box is assembled. Thereby, the electric junction box distributes electric power supplied from an electric power source through the fusible link and electric wires of the wiring harness to the electronic apparatuses.
The electric junction box used in a wet condition includes a packing. Dividing the case main body to a plurality of case members, receiving an electric unit in the divided case members, and combining the divided case members, between each dividing face of which the packing is clamped, an inside of the case main body is water-sealed to prevented water penetration from an outside of the case main body.
Patent Document 1 discloses a water-sealed case, which is divided to a top case and a bottom case by a dividing plane to be slant against a circuit board and not to interfere with a connector opening for projecting a connector. According to such structure, a water-sealed structure by the top and bottom cases is given without interference with a water-sealed structure of the connector. Patent Document 1 is the Japan Published Patent